May 31, 2016

View from my kayak

View from my kayak

For Memorial Day weekend we went, as we have for decades, to my parents' camp up on the river. The weather was so warm this year that it felt like summer. Remember how cold the nights can be in May, I'd brought a fleece, but luckily I had my bathing suit as well. It was swimming weather!

One of the things I love about camp is getting to spend time with my extended family. But I also like to slip away by myself in my little red kayak. Camp is on a peninsula of oak trees that pushes into a huge marsh, and I like to paddle down the little creeks.

This weekend, as I glided along, I could hear noisy splashes on either side of me. The carp were spawning. The carp are, by far, the biggest fish that I ever see in the river. They weigh 10 to 30 pounds (The state record is 50 pounds, 4 ounces), and I'm pretty sure that they could tip my little kayak over if they tried. As I watched them swim under the kayak, their dark shapes gliding through the muddy water, I could hear the music from Jaws in my head, which added a little excitement to my paddle.

The noisy carp helped camouflage the sound of my paddling, which meant that I could glide right up to a great blue heron who was standing on the edge of the marsh. When I was within fifteen feet, I stopped paddling and just watched. The great blue heron always looks to me like it came out of some other time period, long before cell phones, laptops, or even the industrial revolution. The heron took no notice of me until I drifted even closer, and then she rose into the air with almost no effort and flew off to a different part of the marsh.

  Great Blue Heron

9 comments:

Linda said...

Lovely post, I felt like I was there with you.

DJan said...

Gorgeous! I remember learning that their call is used in Jurassic Park because they ARE so incredibly ancient. :-)

Lomagirl said...

Beautiful!

Elephant's Child said...

Oh my.
Colour me jealous.

Jeanie said...

So beautifully written. I love the Great Blue Heron -- they are "my bird." To be so close to one is such a gift.

Debbie said...

what a great capture of the heron, i find them to be very skittish!!! i almost always travel with all weather clothing, you just never know!!!

Rick (Ratty) said...

These are great pictures of the heron. I don't see many of them anymore, but I used to love trying to get close to them for the pictures. I didn't have noisy carp to cover me though. That would have been another fun adventure.

Jeff said...

Enjoying the peaceful vibe from your photo and story.

Zhoen said...

Lived in Kalkaska (MI) a small while, took the canoe around a small lake, chain of ponds. Such silence, turtles, dragonflies, pond vegetation. Thank you for that memory.

Stealth kayaking!